Love Circa 2010: A story about a love that never was.

The colors, shapes, and feelings of love in one drawing.

Jul 12, 2025

Love Circa 2010, unfinished, by Cindy Rodriguez of The Heart Stuff Co.

It’s been a few years

since I started this drawing on my iPad. It was inspired by a love story that occurred even many more years ago. Actually, I’m not entirely sure I can call it a love story, but it sure felt like it to me. Just like that love story, this drawing will live on unfinished.

But I think it’s fitting. Early 2010 I was 19 years old and a very different person. Sure, at my core -who God made me- I’m still the same now in my 30s. But my values, worldview, and beliefs have had a serious makeover. God did that.

The colors, shapes, and feelings of love in one drawing

I used to think of this person and picture flowers growing out of my clavicle in astounding colors, with long stems and roots that entangled my heart, filling up my ribcage. Is that what love feels like? Sometimes I wonder if I’ve ever REALLY been in love. Maybe that’s because there’s moments I struggle to be certain of anything in my life, or because of the “one true love” garbage Disney fed me as a kid.

All I can say is: that’s how it felt. (And by it, I mean IT. Y’know? - Love or something like it.) Splashes of color and bursts of warmth. Beautiful, delicate, fresh growth in soft shapes and shades, and strong roots that wrap themselves around your innards so much so that it even physically hurts sometimes. The feelings of hope, and wonder, and whimsy. Oof, that was a lot. Love is a lot.

But alas, this is a love story that never was. Or, at least, it didn’t last. The pages were ripped out, the words scrubbed off the paper.

So much has changed, so much has stayed the same.

Mm. Strangely, that makes me smile. Maybe it’s because it all turned out the way it was supposed to - the way God wanted. I’m grateful for the changes and grateful for what remains. There is peace in knowing God is sovereign.